According to Shi Huiqiong, director of the Turpan Information Office, if Wu is rooted in Xinjiang, it is first because she absolutely wanted to make her speciality profitable, and then because she felt the misery of the peasants at that difficult time and wanted to help them get rid of poverty. She often had opportunities to go to teach or continue her research in other countries, but always refused. What if a post of vice mayor were offered to her? She thinks, 'I'm much more useful to my melons.' (C'est une pensée, pas une parole. Ici, je suis sure.)

Presently, Wu Mingzhu has two wishes: one is to see the hamigua – the Hami melons – enter the market and for the farmers to become wealthy; the other is that her disciples surpass her in researching melons.

Xinjiang cultivates 101 kinds of melons; Turpan, 40, including 30 new kinds borne from the efforts of Wu and her team. It may seem easy to access the market, but there are still many problems to be solved beforehand. For example, it is necessary to develop a thinner bark to decrease the weight, but a bark strong enough to resist the movements of transportation; to develop melons that last till the winter; to develop melons that are small enough to be consumed in one sitting; and even to develop melons that are "nice to look at," the woman of science explained.

In order to improve the soil, Wu grows onions close to the melon seedlings. She explained the "watering by dripping" technique to me, another of her experiments.

When we returned under the large tent, I found young women busy sorting, classifying, and packing seeds.

Then we proceeded to a "scientific" tasting of melons: each one was numbered, weighed, and registered. Samples of the three kinds I showed preference for was discreetly put in the car to take back, without my knowledge.

Speaking about bark, I was sorry to see such waste. Wu answered that a great deal of the bark is used to feed the sheep; for the remainder, there are other possible uses but this field of research belongs to other scientists. Her field covers the improvement of species and varieties: melons with various degrees of sugar, even completely acidic; melons with apple or pineapple taste; melons with or without seeds; melons that are yellow, green, white, red; melons that are striped, smooth, or "embroidered"; melons that are grown ground-free; and even melons that are the result of seeds that have spent a month in interplanetary space. These last ones are already in their third generation.

Last, I learned a secret that I will pass on to you. The watermelon, which is especially aqueous, is Yin (female) and the tiangua, sweet melon, is Yang (male). Therefore, while consuming only part of the fruit, the higher part of watermelon and the lower part of Hami melon are tastier.

I thought that hamigua would be everywhere in Hami; it is in Turpan that I saw tight rows of stalls along the streets.

(Source: Foreign Languages Press)